Authorities

Canada - Central Authority & practical information

Address

Central Authority(ies):

Click here to access the list of all Central Authorities designated by Canada (list up-to-date as of August 2014).
Comment: to save time, requests should be forwarded directly to the Central Authority of the province or territory concerned. They may, however, also be forwarded to the Federal Central Authority which will transmit them to the relevant Central Authority.

Practical Information:(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the Service Convention Questionnaires)

Forwarding authorities
(Art. 3(1)):

- Attorney General for Canada
- Attorney General, Ministry of the Attorney General or Minister of Justice of a province or territory
- Clerks of the courts and their deputies for a judicial or a court district.
- Central Authority for Alberta
- Deputy Minister of Justice, Northwest Territories
- Huissiers and sheriffs
- Local registrars
- Members of the law societies of all provinces and territories

Methods of service
(Art. 5(1)):

Formal Service (Art. 5(1)(a))
In all provinces and territories in Canada, with the exception of the province of Québec, the term "service" covers both service and "notification".

For service requests transmitted to a Canadian Central Authority under Article 5(1)(a), service will be effected using the same methods as would be used to serve judicial documents for proceedings in the Central Authority's jurisdiction.

The normal procedure for service in Canada is personal service made by a process server in Alberta, a huissier in Québec, an enforcement officer of the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario or a sheriff or deputy sheriff elsewhere in Canada, on an individual or on a corporation by handing a copy of the document to the individual, or to an officer, director or agent of the corporation at its place of business.

Notification in Québec may be made by delivering the original or certified copy or abstract of the act, document or notice to the person to be notified and obtaining a receipt therefore. It can also be made by registered or certified mail. Notification may be made by regular mail or by any other means of communication where the context does not require the sender to obtain proof of sending.

Central Authorities in Canada will consider requests for service by a particular method requested by the applicant under 5(1)(b) to the extent that such a method is not inconsistent with the law of their jurisdiction.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))

The practice of informal delivery ("par simple remise") of judicial or extrajudicial documents is not known in Canada.

Translation requirements
(Art. 5(3)):

For both formal service and service by a particular method, translation requirements will depend on the province or territory concerned.

For Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, all documents must be written in or translated into English.

For Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario and Saskatchewan all documents must be written in or translated into English or French.

For New Brunswick and the Yukon, all documents must be written in or translated into English or French. The Central Authority of New Brunswick or the Yukon may reserve the right to require documents to be translated into English or French depending on the language understood by the addressee.

For Québec, translation will be required in all cases where the recipient does not understand the language in which the document is written. All documents which commence actions must be translated. Summary translation of all other documents is acceptable if the recipient agrees. Translation is to be done into the French language; however, the Québec Central Authority may, upon request, allow a translation in English at the condition that the recipient understands this language.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

Costs relating to execution of the request for service
(Art. 12):

Costs for the execution of service will be $100 Can. from August 18, 2014.

Click here to access the list of all provincial and territorial Central Authorities designated by Canada to receive requests for service in their jurisdiction.

Many businesses commonly referred to
as "Process Servers" serve judicial and extra-judicial documents, for a
fee. These businesses are listed in the Yellow Pages under "process
servers".

In the province of Québec, service must be effected by a
sheriff or a member of the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec.
However, in any place where, within a radius of fifty kilometres, there
is neither sheriff nor bailiff able to act, service may be made by any
person of legal age residing within the radius or by registered or
certified mail.

In the province of Québec, notification may be made by delivering the original or certified copy or abstract of the act, document or notice to the person to be notified and obtaining a receipt therefore. It can also be made by registered or certified mail. Notification may be made by regular mail or by any other means of communication where the context does not require the sender to obtain proof of sending.

Oppositions and declarations
(Art. 21(2)):

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

Art. 8(2):

No opposition

Art. 9(1):

The Central Authorities in Canada designated in accordance with Articles 2 and 18 of the Convention are competent to receive requests for service transmitted by a foreign consul within Canada.

Disclaimer:Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

To view the bilateral treaties regarding judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters that are in force for Canada, please visit http://www.accord-treaty.gc.ca/ under the headings "Bilateral" and "Judicial Co-operation (civil and commercial)".